There’s a World Championship for Microsoft Office–and you could be going

Seriously…There’s a World Championship for Microsoft Office, and it's been going for 13 years.

Last year students from 52 countries gathered to compete for the coveted title of Worldwide Champions in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The competition attracted more than 285,000 unique candidates from 53 countries, and 113 student finalists participated in the final round of competition finals held in Las Vegas. This year’s finals will be held in Washington DC and already entries have passed 400,000. The last time we had a win for Australia was in 2006 when Tristan Horne from Kingscliff High in NSW won the global Excel competition. And last year Kathryn Hitchener a Year 12 student from Toowoomba Christian College came 8th in the worldwide Excel competition. There aren’t too many students who can claim “finalist in the Microsoft Office Worldwide Competition” on their resume and while it is true there can only be one champion, from an teachers point of view every student who participates can win. By achieving their Microsoft Office Specialist certification students can add a valuable credential to their resume, establish the basis for RPL in the case of further VET training, set themselves apart in a very competitive job market - and most of all give their own confidence, competence and proficiency a boost.

The 2013 competition qualification period ends June 15th, in time for the Australian National Championships on 27th June. And the winner of those will be packing their suitcase for the worldwide finals at the end of July.